different silence respecting her. It is evident from the last verse of the 1st chapter of Matthew, that Mary lived afterwards with her husband Joseph as his wife; and it is remarkable that never once, after his resurrection, does Christ call himself"The son of man!" Our Divine Saviour, in referring especially to Mary, when she was announced as his mother, answered that "thenceforth no one should know him after the flesh;" and it seems impossible for language to speak more plainly than Jesus did when a certain woman of the company lifted up her voice to say how blessed His mother was, and He replied, "Yea, rather blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it." When John took Mary home as his adopted mother, no doubt multitudes would have besieged his door to obtain her intercession, had she been supposed to have any miraculous power; but no action of her subsequent life claimed any authority, nor are the time and circumstances of her death of sufficient consequence to be recorded.

Luke, xi. 27.

On the Popish beads and in the rosary there are ten “Hail Marys" for one Lord's Prayer, yet we never hear, in Scripture or in history, that during her life a single human being ever prayed to the Virgin. Had Mary seen such adoration paid to her, would she not have exclaimed like Paul," Sirs! why do ye these things? We

are of like passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God, which made Heaven and earth." When Cornelius attempted to worship Peter, how distinctly the Apostle forbad him "stand up, I myself also am a man." What Pope would say so now to his kneeling attendants; but "let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels." When John threw himself at the feet of an angel, the heavenly visitor reproved him, saying, "See thou do it not, I am thy fellowservant; worship God."

Col. ii. 18.

There is at Rome, on the 15th of August, an annual festival in memory of a scene that never took place," The Assumption of the Virgin:" anno 36, when her age must have been about seventy, though she is represented always young and beautiful. The legend is, that as the apostles were carrying Mary to the grave, the High Priest of the Jews, on attempting to touch her coffin, found both his arms fall off by the elbows. Peter told him to profess Christianity and kiss the coffin, which he did, and his arms were immediately fastened on again. Mary's body was then buried, but, after three days, angels came and carried her human body up to Heaven. "But," says the Popish Breviary, a book of which every Priest is bound to read a daily portion, "Who

is sufficient to conceive, how glorious on this day was the progress of the Queen of the world! with what transport of devout affection the whole multitude of the heavenly hosts went forth to meet her! with what hymns she was conducted to the throne of glory! with how placid, how serene an aspect! with what Divine embraces she was received by her Son, and exalted above every creature!" Protestants, tempted sometimes by the beauty of engravings which represent these fabulous traditions, are induced to adorn their rooms with such representations, which accustom young people to associate the gratification of their most refined tastes with superstitious tales. Going merely to hear music at the convents and Popish churches often ends in going there to worship; while the excitement of listening to the Stabat Mater and such beautiful music in honour of Mary, is not only profane but dangerous.

Dr. Ware, in a recent volume, says, "The great extent to which the love of the Virgin is carried, and to which it supplants the worship of Christ and God, one could not believe without witnessing. The love of the Virgin amounts to a passion. They pour out their sorrows and love into her sympathizing human heart, and as surely expect relief and pardon by her intercession as if they poured them out at the throne of God! Bedizened with all the fine clothing and tinsel they can possibly

load her with, there mingles with this worship too much of a purely human feeling. On one occasion of special service, they who came up to the image one after another to do her homage - dressed rather more splendidly than common, holding the child on her knee-seemed incapable of parting with it: they would approach her, kneel, and, after a silent prayer, rise, and kiss her silver foot, then lay their cheek upon it, first on one side, then on the other, as if hardly able to tear themselves away from embracing it, so as to give place to another of the crowd, who would then advance and go through the same demonstrations. On the mother's knee sat all the while the young Christ- but wholly unnoticed, quite neglected; all was forgotten for the love and worship of the beautiful mother."

It must be a strange sensation to an educated Protestant, the first time he kneels down before a wooden image! But let wavering young people remember, that to such idolatry the Popish Church, once embraced, will at last force them onwards, and, forgetting all minor differences among Protestants, unite in one fervent desire to avoid idolatry, and in one strong resolution rather to die than not worship the Trinity in Unity alone and undivided. When Bishop Hooper stood at the stake, a table was placed before him with his pardon on it, signed and ready if he would

only relinquish Bible truths; but he expired a willing martyr: and many a Protestant has welcomed death in the spirit of the Vendeans, whose war-cry was, "Notre Dieu est mort pour nous, mourrons pour lui."

A lady who had been for some time lately under the clandestine tuition of a Popish Bishop, declared that her chief difficulty in joining the Romish communion arose from the impossibility she felt in reconciling her mind or conscience to the worshipping of a woman in Heaven. "Then," replied the Bishop, "that need not delay your profession, for it will come in time." Accordingly it did come in a much shorter time than the convert had reckoned on, for no sooner had she sworn to believe whatever doctrine the Church infallibly taught, than she found that this oath included Mariolatry, image-worship, and every other unchristian superstition of Romanism.

The custom of keeping relics arose among Papists long after the Bible was completed; and all must be aware, from reading tomb-stones, funeral sermons, and biographies, how impossible it is to know for certain who, during their lives, were or were not saints on earth, many being painted in rainbow colours borrowed solely from the bright imagination of the writer, and others most unjustly censured, or more fortunate in being forgotten,